I want to actually experience the 4 seasons! CA senior needing help to make college list

College Search & Selection
1

Hi! I’ve been hesitant about registering for College Confidential up until now but finally bucked up and decided that the pros outweighed the cons. I am a current senior living in SoCal working on my college applications. Thing is, after reviewing my college list, I realized that half of my schools were super selective, and the other half I didn’t even want to go to. I like the East Coast a lot and would like to go somewhere outside of state. Please help me figure out which colleges need to stay on my list, which need to go, and which need to be added!

Wants:
A place with actual seasons, preferable college town feel, small class sizes, access to good outside internships and opportunities, strong alumni system, relatively safe area.

Current List (Ordered by favorites):
Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Duke, Cornell, UPenn, Stanford, Tufts, Northwestern, UC Berkeley, UCSD, UCLA, UCI
I’m currently planning to apply to Yale EA

Education/Scores…
GPA: Weighted=4.71, Unweighted=3.97
Class Rank: 3/536
SAT: 1540 (first try, no study); Taking again in October
ACT: 34 (also first try, no study); Scores pending for second try
SAT Subject Tests: Literature=740, Math 2=690, Biology E=600
AP Tests: Calculus BC=5, Lang/Comp=5, Biology=4, Spanish=4, Physics 1=3 (Currently taking 4 more APs)
I know that my SAT II and AP scores are pretty low, but these tests were taken during the month of June when there was a lot of personal stuff going on. My counselor knows about these things and said that she would explain them in her letter of rec for me.

Extracurriculars…
Research at U.C. Irvine Cancer Research Institute: 12
Founder and Co-President of Future Medical Leaders of America: 12
Lead Volunteer at Local Hospital: 10, 11, 12
Traditional Vietnamese Dance Choreographer and Teacher: 9, 10, 11, 12
Head Captain of Speech and Debate: 10, 11, 12; State Qualifier
Model United Nations: 9, 10, 11, 12; Merit Scholarship Recipient
Varsity Tennis + Frosh/Soph & JV Coaching Assistant: 9, 10, 11, 12
U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps: 9, 10

I’m planning to major in biology on a pre-med track. Please help me solidify my college list! I’d also welcome any other general advice you have. Let me know if there is any information I forgot to include, this is my first time on the forums. Thank you in advance!!!

2

What are your financial limits?

3

NESCAC.

4

My parents recently got divorced (that was part of the whole debacle of June), so I’m not really sure how my financial situation will appear. My younger sister and I live with my mom and though she is low income, my dad is high income. Financial aid will be nice to help out my single mom but my dad has promised that he will help provide for my education so in the end I think that tuition shouldn’t be an issue.

5

East coast is not one of my areas of expertise, but… why are you retaking SAT with a 1540? You’re done testing!

Cancel that October sitting and work on your college list and essays instead!

6

Just saying: I used to drive home through a neighborhood in Irvine where the trees changed color in fall. (Granted, it was one tree at the curb in front of each house, lol.) And you can go to the mountains, for snow.

And other than the southwest, lots of areas in the US have 4 seasons. Or 3.5.

Any in-school math sci activities other than the club?

7

I was actually debating between retaking the SAT and essay (I scored low on the SAT essay, which surprised me since writing has always been my strong suit) or the SAT Subject Tests again. Or maybe I can just take AroundHere’s advice and not retake them at all haha.

Ciruitrider I’ve actually never heard of that term before and had to look up what NESCAC meant. I’ll definitely look into those schools. This whole college search experience has really shown me how small my world has been up until now, being born and living in the same house since I was born.

8

If you are going to retake something, retake math or bio subject tests.

D.C./ MD is a great four season area without too brutal or long of a winter. Lots of options. Get a Fiske guide. Really too many options for us to just start listing schools with such broad parameters.

9

Probably since I’ve already spent my whole life in California I want to go somewhere out of state for a change. I already spent my entire summer in UC Irvine and though I’m still doing research there, I can’t see myself going there for four years. A big reason for why I don’t really want to go to any of the UCs is because they’re so impacted, and especially with such a popular major it could be hard to get classes and graduate within four years.

For math I took Algebra II Trig, Precalculus Honors, and AP Calculus BC. I decided not to take a math this year since the only math class that I haven’t taken is AP Statistics, and frankly the teacher for that class is really bad. I won the Golden Key Award for Mathematics last year. The Golden Keys are the biggest end-of-the-year awards available at our school. I was a peer tutor sophomore year and I’m also the treasurer for the Mu Alpha Theta club. I only did math tutoring for one year and have only been active in Mu Alpha Theta since last year so since I don’t really see them as too important to me I didn’t include them.

For science I took Accel. Biology freshman year. I took chemistry sophomore year and was a representative for my school at the American Chemical Society. Junior year I doubled in science and took both AP Biology and AP Physics. My AP Biology teacher was my school sponsor for my acceptance to the UCI Youth Science Fellowship, which is how I first got into research at UCI. She’s also my club advisor for FMLA and she’s writing my LoR. By taking AP Chemistry and AP Environmental Science this year I will have taken all of the AP science classes my school offers.

10

Okay, I’ll retake the Math 2 and Biology SAT Subject Tests then. I personally didn’t like D.C. when we toured the east coast so I’m not going to apply to any schools in that area. Sorry if the parameters are too broad, is there any other information that I could provide to make giving recommendations easier?

11

Finances might well be an issue. It would help people here guide you if we knew more about your parents’ (both) income and how much they actually can and are willing to pay.

12

CC isn’t allowing me to put the specific incomes so I’ll just put it in relative terms. With just my mom’s income, Yale would require my average parental contribution to be $0. With my dad’s income, we’d be paying half of Yale’s tuition.

13

So then a question is whether your dad would actually pay that amount. I know it’s not necessarily easy to have these conversations with parents, but it’s important to do so, to avoid applying to colleges that you can’t afford to attend.

14

Yep he’s completely willing to support my education. He’s the only one between my parents who has gone to college and he’s a big advocate for pursuit of higher education. He may not be in our house anymore but he’s all in for me going to college thankfully.

15

Carleton and St. Olaf are both in Northfield, Minnesota. It’s definitely a four-seasons kind of place. You might get merit aid at St. Olaf but not at Carleton, which gives only need-based aid. Both are good in STEM fields (as well as other subjects).

16

In fact, my dad made up the time that he has been absent to my sister and me by taking us on a tour of colleges in the East Coast. Financials in the end shouldn’t be a problem, I just want to be able to go to a good school with a good community that I can thrive in.

17

You will need to find out which schools will take your non-custodial parent’s income into account. Typically, the more competitive private schools require both the FAFSA and the CSS Profile. The latter is much more detailed and evaluates the assets and income of both parents. So those schools won’t disburse aid according to your mother’s income alone

You should take a serious look at FAFSA only schools, but be advised that FAFSA uses figures from two years ago, when your folks were still together and that will be the basis for the EFC

High income is relative - if it’s in excess of 250K including your dad, you’re not likely to get much financial aid, if any.

Also will you be in the running for National Merit? That would open some merit scholarship possibilities.

For a non-reach option, you might look at University of Vermont if you want four seasons and a nice college town. It offers merit scholarships for high stats OOS students and has an honors program. FAFSA only.

Finally, as others have mentioned, I’d retake the subject tests rather than retaking the SAT.

18

Hi There, @MyDogsNameIsFat, You don’t need to retake your SAT or ACT your scores are great. If you want to retake them, go for it. My Son is a freshman at Princeton, a safe college town close to Philadelphia and NYC. Our family has similar circumstances recently divorced and my Son wanted four seasons in an urban environment. If your parents, though they recently divorced, are both willing to support you, you should apply to any college that fits your choices. Both of your parents income are combined so it doesn’t matter who is custodial or who isn’t. They are equal. All 1-20 ranked schools are difficult to get into but make sure to include great 20-40 plus choices where you’d like to study at. You wrote a really good essay above and I would bet you have a good chance of achieving your goals. Remember that any college where you can show your talents would be a great fit for you. Research each college and express, with your essays, why you should go there , in obvious or subtle ways. Good luck and wishing you the best!

19

I’ll definitely look into those two schools! Do you know if there are a lot of opportunities for internships at hospitals and such in those areas? I’d like to get job experience and get involved in the community while I’m in school. Admittedly I don’t know enough about Minnesota (I’ll do more research), so the only thing I’m running off of is stereotypes of there not being much to do in that state. Apologies to anyone from Minnesota!!!

20

Thank you @mamaedefamilia! I don’t believe that I am in the running for any National Merit. Instead of expecting merit scholarships from the schools I’m actively applying to outside scholarships. I’m going to be working through the FAFSA with my school’s college counselor soon. Thanks for the advice!